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Plastics are essentially polymers made from long chains of carbon and other elements. They are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and their versatility, durability and imperviousness to water means they are used everywhere, from packaging to cars and furniture and toys.

But, because polymers and plastics are so cheap to manufacture the economic benefit of recycling can be marginal.

This 2004 story from ABC-TV's Catalyst program looked at the research of Professor Veena Sahajwalla of the University of NSW and her idea that the carbon and hydrogen in waste plastics might be a useful resource for the manufacture of steel.

For this to work, the use of the waste polymers needed to be more cost-effective than traditional methods, while still resulting in a product of the same or even higher quality than before.

2015 update

Veena's research has proven to be highly successful. On the path to commercialisation, her team found an even more effective approach was to use the polymers in another type of waste — used car tyres.

Most of the existing uses for old tyres involve making low value secondary products such as asphalt, aggregate for cement, artificial reefs, footwear, plastic and rubber composites, or cushioning material in playgrounds.

Together with technology partner One Steel, Veena's team perfected the technique of 'polymer injection' for electric arc furnaces. In Australia alone, this technology has so far resulted in over two million used car tyres being converted from waste into a valuable feedstock for steel production.

The technology has also been licensed to steel makers in South Korea, Thailand and the UK enabling high quality steel products to be produced more economically and with less energy, while at the same time reducing the environmental problems of waste tyre disposal.